Landlords on the Naughty List

Worst landlord, Silvershore’s tenants and their allies rallied outside of the Brooklyn Housing Court to ask the court to step in to address dangerous conditions in June of this year.

In mid-November Public Advocate Letitia James released her list of the 100 landlords to make the 2017 Worst Landlords Watchlist just in time for them to get on Santa’s lump of coal list. You can view the entire list here: www.landlordwatchlist.com.

Jonathan Cohen-Silvershore Properties is number one on the naughty list. Of his nineteen properties that made the list, six are in North Brooklyn. These six buildings have racked up 306 of Silvershore’s 1090 NYC Housing Preservation & Development (HPD) violations, and 12 of their 15 NYC Dept. of Buildings (DOB) violations. St. Nicks Alliance Community Preservation has been assisting the tenants of two of these six buildings (318 Humboldt Street and 196 Kingsland Avenue) who were dealing with hideous conditions get needed repairs. “There’s still more to be done, but conditions have improved,” said St. Nicks Alliance’s Laura Hoffman. Silvershore has also flaunted rent regulation laws in New York, by failing to register rents in several buildings. Tenants at 318 Humboldt had to petition the Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR) to have their rent-regulated status recognized.

The Worst Landlords Watchlist was started by then-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in 2010. The effectiveness of this list could be viewed in the how the list changes in following years. Nine of the landlords on last year’s top ten list are no longer included in the top ten, and six of these landlords are no longer on the list. One landlord, Harry Silverstein, passed away and no longer appears on the list. However, many of his buildings are now owned by his son, Eric Silverstein, who is number five on the list. The two remaining of the nine, moved lower down the list due to improvements they made in their buildings.

“No New Yorker should be subjected to live in a hazardous home, yet bad landlords in our City are forcing too many tenants to live in dangerous and indecent conditions,” said Public Advocate Letitia James. “The Worst Landlords Watchlist is a powerful tool to put these unscrupulous landlords on notice and gives tenants the tools to hold them accountable.”